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OSs

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Ok guys n gals, the only OSs I've ever used are Win 3.x, 95, 98 and XP. So the question is, out of the following, which ones are still in general use (on a professional level), how long you think it takes to get to grips with them, what the main differences are and any other info you'd like to throw in, thanks very muchly in advance for your help

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I thought Citrix was a super version of a PCAnywhere-like app.

Linux, Irix and Solaris are versions of Unix. There *are* differences - but only in detail. And there are many other flavours of Unix out there.

you will be suprised what is still in use these days. Basically all the OS's you have mentioned are in use but for different things. Citrix is usually used to host apps to thin clients as far as I know. Unix is used on servers and is an alternative to Windows NOS's (Network Operating Systems) like NT, 2000 and 2003 and can be used to host databases, webserver, print server, file server etc.

OS2 is basically dead, never heard of Irix, Solaris is Linux based and Linux is used at both desktop and server level and is gaining popular support as a desktop with flavours such as Solaris, Debian, Redhat etc. Windows is still used in all versions though 95 is all but dead. If you have used Windows from 95/98 then all versions from there are easy to pick up as they are pretty much similar with a few bells and whistles on. The main Microsoft ones used in business as a desktop I would say are 98, 2000 pro and XP pro.

Linux is very different from Windows and if you have used Windows then it does take time to get used to Linux. Everyone has their own views on which is the best. I personally am using Ubuntu at the mo which I find really easy to use and setup which I didn't find with other Linux Distro's (Believe me I've tried most of them).

As for Unix and Citrix they aren't really for using at home and I would personally start with maybe XP and Linux. NOS's like 2000 and 2003 are pretty expensive to buy as well and you need 2 PC's to get the benefit out of them one running the NOS and the other running a client like XP.

you will be suprised what is still in use these days. Basically all the OS's you have mentioned are in use but for different things. Citrix is usually used to host apps to thin clients as far as I know. Unix is used on servers and is an alternative to Windows NOS's (Network Operating Systems) like NT, 2000 and 2003 and can be used to host databases, webserver, print server, file server etc.

OS2 is basically dead, never heard of Irix,

Click to expand...

Irix is/was the flavour of Unix used by SGI - once the darling of high-end graphical workstations.

slypie said:

Solaris is Linux based

Click to expand...

You will give all the Sun people appoplexy with that statement!
Solaris is based on SysV Unix rather more than on BSD which was their older system (usualy refered to as SunOS). Linux is a mix of BSD and SysV, with a heavy lean towards BSD.

slypie said:

and Linux is used at both desktop and server level and is gaining popular support as a desktop with flavours such as Solaris, Debian, Redhat etc. Windows is still used in all versions though 95 is all but dead. If you have used Windows from 95/98 then all versions from there are easy to pick up as they are pretty much similar with a few bells and whistles on. The main Microsoft ones used in business as a desktop I would say are 98, 2000 pro and XP pro.

Linux is very different from Windows and if you have used Windows then it does take time to get used to Linux. Everyone has their own views on which is the best. I personally am using Ubuntu at the mo which I find really easy to use and setup which I didn't find with other Linux Distro's (Believe me I've tried most of them).

Is Linux compatible with WNT, 2K and 2K3 and what's the minimum spec you'd recommend for 2K3? Also I'm likely to have 7 OSs running on the same system eventually so could you see any problems arising from that? Thanks again for your help guys

Depends on what you mean by 'compatible'. In general Windows cannot 'see' Linux file-systems, but Linux can usualy 'see' windows ones. If you separate the systems so that there are 2 or more machines then there is no problem.

Getting 7 OSes to work on one machine will be difficult, unless you use plug-in trays with a separate drive for each OS.

The problem, as always, is money. The OSs themselves I've seen going as cheaply as £10 on ebay. Then I get into considering 3 or 4 systems and we're talking thousands, I'm not gonna have that sort of money for a LONG time

it can be difficult getting different systems on the same PC. I would recommend that you have them on physically seperate drives either internal or external will work. The beauty about external is that you can plug the OS you want in and get it to work as long as you motherboard supports booting from USB. External drives are pretty cheap these day (around £60+). The other alternative is to buy a couple of cheap PC's which you can pick up for about £140 from places like Ebuyer (Without the monitor) and put a couple of OS's on each and that way you can put a NOS on one and a client on another. Do a bit of reseach into having multiple OS's on the same PC as it is tricky. For Windows you install the earliest OS first. With Linux and Windows I think it's best to install Linux first then Windows.

Also watch out for the CD's on Ebay for £10 if they are windows XP or 2003 they will be copies.

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